


Take my Hand

by CorporalLevi_is



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: AU normal lives, Blood, Blow Jobs, EMT! Yuuri, Fluff, M/M, Smut, Teacher! Victor, tw: car accident
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2018-11-07 09:26:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11056095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorporalLevi_is/pseuds/CorporalLevi_is
Summary: Victors met yuuri several times, falling in love with him more and more each time.Victor is a cute teacher and yuuri is a cute EMT and they are cute together





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Victor saw him it was like a strike of lightning. The neighboring apartment complex was up in flames and the whole block was outside on the pavement at two thirty in the morning in their robes and slippers. Men and women were clamoring out of the many fire trucks and ambulances, along with several fire police and personal vehicles adorning volunteer stickers. He looked like everyone else there, a blur rushing through the crowd.

At least it was a summer day or this silky robe wouldn’t cut it, unfortunately the rush of the trucks blew a nice breeze right up said silk robe, Victor’s pink boxer briefs flashed all his neighbors. A forced calm upon himself as he acts completely unbothered and continues to look at the destruction in front of him. Heavy boots against pavement, static crackles against ears from the hand held radios, and stethoscopes clink against ID badges.

Victor’s neighbor, from one door down, shrugged up to Victor. “What a beautiful night,” the man whispered.

“Really Phichit…” Victor said with a light jab into the younger man’s side.

“Oh, absolutely, look at all these uniforms,” flashing a smile and a wink up at Victor, “my friend should be here somewhere.”

“Oh? Are they a firefighter”

“EMT,” Victor hummed in reply. They stood together admiring the flames for a little bit, they were dying down so just flicks of flame licked the windows, until Phichit spoke again, “oh! Look! Yuuri!”

Turning in the direction Phichit was waving, Victor spotted a small Japanese man stepping down off the back step of an ambulance, stethoscope around the neck and clipboard in one hand, the man spoke quick words to his partner, “she’s just in shock, her BP is 90/40, I put her on oxygen at two lpm, she’s got a blanket and she’s laying down so just recheck her BP again in five minutes.” His partner nodded, taking the clipboard and climbing into the back of the ambulance, shutting the doors behind her.

Letting out a deep sigh, Yuuri turned to Phichit and with a smile finally acknowledged the man, “hi, enjoying the show?”

“Only if everyone got out okay?”

“Yeah! They’re actually doing construction on the top half where the fire broke out, so it didn’t even touch the apartments people are currently living in. Although their stuff is definitely going to smell like smoke…” he finished saying with a look up to the building.

“Our city appreciates your work,” Victor spoke and the man finally looked at him and when his eyes met Yuuri's eyebrows rose a bit over his blue framed glasses.

A light pink painted his cheeks, “it’s not a big deal, we just do what we can…” he said this quietly, then added, “but I have to get back,” throwing a thumb over his shoulder.

“Alright, good luck Yuuri!” Phichit says to Yuuri’s back.

But he turns around with a smile and a shout, “bye Phichit. Bye…you,” he finishes with fumbled words and almost trips turning back towards his ambulance in a faux jog. The tips of his ears are red and he climbs into the driver's seat of the ambulance and pulls away, blue and red lights flicked on. Now Phichit looks at Victor with pursed lips and a contemplative “hum.”

“Your friend is cute phichit,” Victor says nonchalantly towards his inquisitive look.

“Yeah,” and then, “Yuuri Katsuki…with two U’s.”

“Hmm?”

“Just, you know, in case you were wanting to know…” quieter this time: “to look him up or something.”

“Ah, well,” squinting his eyes, “thanks for that. Goodnight Phichit.” The fire had died down completely and most of the other people here had dispersed, whether back inside their apartments or off to the hospital.

This was the first time he saw Yuuri, but not the last.

\- - -

The second time he met Yuuri could have definitely been better. One long day of teaching and Victor is just about ready to flop onto his bed with Makkachin and fall asleep for 2 weeks. Usually one to walk up the stairs to get to his fourth floor apartment, Victor opts for the elevator today. The doors are closing but the “tap tap tap” against the tiles in the lobby make his arm instinctively stop the doors from closing for the oncoming pursuer.  
  
With quick steps, the tapping feet aiming for the elevator hop on with ease, “thank you so much. You know, the three minute wait can be agonizing,” the man says with a sarcastic lilt. The man reaches over to retap the number four.

Victor gave a considerate laugh before finally eyeing the guy up. Brown hair swept back with a couple strands falling over his forehead, brown eyes, and a familiar smile, but from where? “Do you live here?”

“Oh, no, I’m just visiting a friend”

“Hum.” Victor makes a noncommittal noise turning up to watch the numbers go up. Before the number could go further than three, the elevator clunked to a stop. They both stood stock still, waiting for the doors to open, but they didn't.

Eyes going wide, victor looked down at the buttons, the doors weren’t opening? He looks over at the man next to him, eyes also widened in worry.

His body falls slack, “ah, this would happen,” Victor says in a defeated tone, head hanging. He sinks into a squat and he puts his hands over his face.

Victor takes a chance and looks up to the man next to him, who is saying “what,” repeatedly and looking around completely unsure. He pulls out his phone and goes to make a call, it must go through because “Phichit,” it sounds like a whine, _cute_ , “the elevator’s stuck.”

“Yes, yes, call them! … I would prefer to be mocked than to be stuck in an elevator.” Victor hears laughing on the other end of the receiver, well if it’s the Phichit he knows then he’s not surprised he would be laughing at his friend's demise. “Thank you,” the man finishes and clicks the end button.

Letting out a deep breath Victor stands back up, “you’re Yuuri,” recognition in his voice.

“Y-yes?”

“I met you a couple months ago at the fire next door. Victor,” thin fingers offering themselves to Yuuri, his nimble hands responded and after a brief touch they dropped hands.

“I’m sorry, now I remember, that was a late night…”

Victor’s nose turned pink and he slumped back to the floor, “so Phichits going to call someone to rescue us?”

“Yeah, I gave him the direct line to my fire department so he can always reach them more easily.”

“Tell me more, I’ve always loved a man in uniform,” Victor teases and Yuuri’s ears go red.

“W-what do you want to know?”

They go back and forth a bit between each other, Yuuri’s been an EMT for six years now, he started it as a sort of side job but ended up loving it and has been volunteering with the Dearborn Fire Department for four years. Victor teaches at the nearby high school as a history and gym teacher, though he only started out there to do history they offered him the gym teacher position several years ago and he’s always been an athlete at heart so of course he said yes.

They both have poodles. They both come from Asia, Yuuri came for school and Victor came for his father's funeral and couldn’t find it in him to leave.

“I’m so sorry, Victor,” Yuuri said apologetically and Victor was used to the apologies but he wasn’t used to receiving it from such a torn face.

“Ah, Yuuri, it’s okay, it was twelve years ago now.”

Looking up at Victor through his lashes, Yuuri confesses, “my parents both died - in a car accident - while I was in college over here… I don’t remember our last moments together at all.”

“Oh, Yuuri…” Victor starts, “I’m -”

“So, I understand,” Yuuri cuts him off, “..I understand if it’s  _not_ okay.”

VIctor had a hand up to his lips, a soft contemplative look in his eyes, “you’re right Yuuri, it’s not okay. I wish I had talked with my father more, I don’t understand why he had to live in America. But I can’t leave him here alone, he insisted on being buried next to his parents and there’s no one else to visit him…”

At some point Yuuri had sat down on the elevator floor so they could talk at eye level, Victor appreciated that, and for the first time got a good look at his soft white skin, long black lashes wrapped around his eyes, and beautiful long fingers currently holding themselves across his long legs. _Ah, did i get too comfortable with a stranger?_ Yuuri was nodding his head in understanding.

“You’re braver than I am, I can’t even face home, I went for the funerals, left and never looked back. My sister was left to deal with our inn and do damage control, whereas I fled as soon as I could.”

“Sounds like we’re both running away…”

Yuuri hummed in agreement.

“Ah, but we’re trying to get to know each other we shouldn’t have taken such a dark turn.”

Yuuri looked up, “I feel like I got to know you pretty well though,” he said with a sly grin and Victor’s nose turned pink.

Trying to lighten the mood of this elevator, Yuuri asks Victor about his school. Victor goes on to tell him how it’s not the best school district but he feels blessed to be able to work with so many different kinds of people, students and staff alike. Working in a high school definitely sounds rough and it is. He has one student, a Russian boy, “also named Yuri!” he had stated with a big smile, “Yuri doesn’t take a crap from me and he has no problem using expletives in Russian to get his point across if I’m being of no help,” Victor laughs now.

Yuuri encourages him to keep going, he loves seeing this side of Victor, “what other kind of students do you have?”

“Oh! Otabek is great, he’s the only one who can get Yurio to stop being so aggressive. He’s actually eighteen years old, left back and all that, but he’s working really hard and I think Yurio’s helping him along as well,” a fond smile touches his features as he talks about them. “Like I said, it’s not a great district, we don’t have a lot of money but what we do have we spend on the kids, we can’t get them computers but we can set up small field trips to the museum.”

“mm, that’s really great Victor,” Yuuri murmurs.

“Everyone I work with is amazing, Christophe gives the kids so much inspiration, Mila makes them feel comfortable, even our dean, Yakov, is a big softy.”

“I’d say you’re doing better work than I am, Victor,” chin in hand and red across his cheeks, Yuuri’s looking at Victor with incredible eyes.

Victor gets caught in that stare; _those eyes are addictive…_ He almost forgets to respond but manages a, “no no no no no, that’s not possible Yuuri.” Then a look down, “I just want to make their lives a little better.”

Yuuri’s hand comes into Victor’s line of sight, resting over Victor’s hand which is on his own knee. When Victor looks up Yuuri has a smile on, “you’re really something.” Victor feels the heat lick up his neck and hit his cheeks hard and Yuuri pulls back suddenly blushing himself, “S-sorry.”

 _For What?_ “No reason to be sorry.” Yuuri smiles again at that but this time it’s a soft smile that makes his eyebrows rise and his eyes grow big.

A knock comes at the door, “How are we doing in there Yuuri,” a hearty laugh comes from the other side of steel and the blush that dissipated from Yuuri’s face is back.

“All right, stand back boys, we’re here to help!” The doors start to open and Victor see’s four big hands pulling from each side prying the doors apart, What the, Yuuri’s laughing now.

The firemen didn’t need any tools to get them out of the elevator, it had broken down but they were only a foot below the fourth floor so they could’ve just pulled the doors open themselves. _I’m an idiot_ , Victor thought, shaking his head, but then he looked up at Yuuri and the bright smile on his face; eyes squeezed shut, mouth open big with big sound, “oh my god,” he managed between big breaths, “we didn’t even check to see if we could get out!” He wiped a stray tear from the corner of his eye and pushed his hair back. Victor so struck by Yuuri’s beautiful laugh couldn’t even laugh with him at this ridiculous situation. _I might be an idiot but I don’t regret it_ , a light smile touches Victor’s face as two strong arms grab onto Victor’s shoulders.

He turns to look at the offender, “ya ready to get outta there big boy,” the woman smiles down at him and with a big laugh she allows him to grab onto her and she heaves him up and out of the elevator. Two men have the privilege of helping Yuuri out and his departure looked much more graceful. As they are both being pulled out the flash of an iphone camera goes off in their faces.

A familiar voice spoke up, “Oh, Victor you were in there too, who knew,” although the way Phichit said it, it seemed he knew all too well.

“Why did it take so long for you guys to get here… we were in there for a good forty minutes,” Yuuri huffed, adding so only Victor could hear, “not that I minded,” eyes looking up under thick lashes towards Victor. Only for a flash of a second though because then his eyes were back on the conversation.

“Well we only got the call ten minutes ago or so, buddy,” a tall man spoke now, with a clap to Yuuri’s back. A group of them had come, and they were all suited up and ready with big machinery and big tools, though it appears they didn’t need any of them. The woman had already taken off her thick fire jacket and slung it over her shoulder, leaving her in just a black tank top. They started to walk down the hall, each person lugging something behind them.

“What… Phichit!?”

“Oopsie,” was Phichit’s response, “I couldn’t find the card with the number so I was walking over to the elevator to ask you, but I heard you talking to a familiar Russian accent and I just… had to see what would happen, and I am not disappointed,” he finished using his two fingers to point at Yuuris red cheeks and Victors pink ones.

“P-Phichit,” Yuuri sputters. “-Oh, thanks guys!” he yells down the hall before they turned and left.

They hear the faint, “no problem,” as the stairwell door slams shut.

“Yuuri, I was just trying to look out for you, you haven’t been out with anyone in almost a year! And Victor,” he says turning towards the silver haired man, who snapped his mouth shut with apprehension, “if what I’m hearing through our thin apartment sharing walls is real, which is silence, then Victor hasn’t been seeing anyone either.”

“Alright Phichit, we’re leaving,” Yuuri starts, slipping gently behind Phichit and using his body to steer him towards their apartment and Victor followed, well, my apartment is this way too.

When they arrived at their respective doors, Victor and Yuuri looked towards each other, hands reaching for the knobs, “bye Yuuri.”

"Bye, Victor,” Yuuri twisted his knob and pushed in, eyes not leaving Victor’s until he moved past the door frame, clung to Phichit’s arm. Their door closed and Victor stood there a bit longer, lingering.

Phichit’s voice rung through the walls, “don’t you have to go in with him and make sure he’s okay, Mr. EMT. What if he’s in shock, he’ll need to lie down and be held.”

“That! Is not what you need while in shock,” Yuuri squeaked back.

Victor let out a laugh and finally went inside, finding he was not as tired as he had been.

\- - -

Victor blinked the black away and opened his eyes to see shattered glass and pavement, he was hit with nausea as the headache he currently had was too strong, blurry eyes watched as his hands felt around on the ground, he could only see because his hands and arms were numb. Along with the ringing in his ears, he heard sirens and he tried to look around. It felt like hours by the time his eyesight came in clear, he looked down at his body (or looked up actually) and fumbled to unclick his seatbelt. He hissed as he fell the two inches banging his neck into metal. Luckily his driver side window was broken and he managed to pull himself out, arms digging into glass he kept his face down so avoid scratches. Digging into the ground with his elbows he pulled until his torso was out of the window, than he slumped down resting his head on his wet arms.

The sound of sirens was still ringing but they hadn’t arrived at the scene yet, Victor can’t think clearly, he was driving on his lunch break home for a chart he had made up for the kids next project, the car in the next lane swerved into his to avoid hitting a dog. A loud crowd had gathered and a man had come forward to Victor, “hey don’t move too much, okay? Are you alright?”

Delicate fingers were placed on Victor’s neck; it was the only thing he actually felt, hot hands twisted into his nape. “I need you two over there to help me, and I need you to watch for the second responder,” the voice demanded, his voice as warm as his hands.

“Victor, hey, I wanna hear you say something?” his gentle voice strong enough to be heard through the ringing. “Okay, I’m going to hold onto his neck to keep it stable I want you two, you gently pull him out and place him onto the right edge of this towel, that’s right, put your hands into his armpits to pull, slowly, slowly, okay once we place him down, were going to flip him just as slowly.”

The man was getting a response from the two helpers but Victor only heard the one voice. “I’ll be holding his neck still, so you put your left hand on his shoulder over there, and the other hand on his hip, and you put your left hand crossing with hers on the hip, and your other hand on his knee.”

Victor felt himself be pulled over, suddenly it was bright out and he was looking straight up at the grey sky, thin clouds making it look like it was about to rain. Brown eyes shot into view, Yuuri, “Victor, thank god, your eyes are open, can you speak?” He turned to the two next to him and said a small thank you before his attention was back on Victor, “if you can speak now would be the time, do you know who I am?”

As Yuuri spoke he ran his hands around Victor, tracing the lines going vertical in his neck, pressing at his clavical, “Keep your head straight Victor, please don’t move it,” Victor obeyed but reached his arm up to rest on Yuuri’s cheek.

He made contact and Yuuri looked at him with a worried expression, “Yuuri,” a small smile touched Yuuri’s lips than. This is the third time he saw Yuuri.

“Oh, good,” he said letting out a heavy breath, getting back to work. When Victor dropped his hand he noticed he had left some blood and dirt on Yuuri’s face but Yuuri didn’t move to wipe it off, his complete attention on Victor. “Can you open your mouth for me,” Victor did so, “and you’re breathing okay?” Victor went to nod his head only getting a quarter of the way up, “-don’t… move your head. Just a yes works,” so Victor responded with a yes. The feeling was back in his limbs now and he let out a sigh of relief.

The lights of the siren showed up and EMT’s hopped out pulling a stretcher with them, one ambulance team was going towards the sidewalk behind the crowd and the other was coming towards him, he saw this from the side of his eye. Yuuri kept going - cursing over not having his stethoscope or something – hands touching his side by his ribs, they sat there for a long moment moving out and in with each breath.

Someone knelt down next to Yuuri at Victor’s side and Yuuri spoke to them while pressing into each part of his abdomen, “I saw the accident from down the road so I ran over, I’m an EMT with Dearborn. It’s only the two of them in this accident but the other guy got out of his car easily so he walked over to the tree.”  
The man took over for Yuuri, pressing into his pelvis then moving down each extremity, asking Victor to wiggle his toes and fingers, feeling for a pulse, and along the way plucking glass from his arms and wrapping up any cuts.

Once Victor had a neck brace on he felt comfortable to look towards Yuuri who had stayed by his side. Yuuri had grabbed his hand and was holding it lightly, Victor tried to squeeze but couldn’t muster the strength.

He only moved away when the other EMT’s pulled the stretcher close to Victor’s side and lowered it, lifting Victor up by the towel beneath him. “I’ll come with you into the ambulance, I’m his friend.”

 _Friend_ , Victor smiled the best he could, _better_ _than nothing_. The medic nodded and they climbed into the ambulance and drove off. “Yuuri, is that dog okay?”

  
The man let out a laugh, “that’s what you’re worried about right now,” when Victor pulled his eyebrows down and pouted his cut lips Yuuri continued, “he’s fine, he’s fine, someone had pulled him to the side and called his owner’s number off his tag.”

Relief flooded Victor and he sank into the hard stretcher, Yuuri moved to the edge of his seat, completely ignoring the seatbelt rule, running the tips of his fingers along the top of Victor’s eyebrow. There must’ve been a cut because it stung but Victor didn’t flinch away from the touch.

He reached down and pulled Victors phone from his pocket, “whoa, look what survived the crash,” he exclaimed, “I’m gonna call your job, you were on break right… or does school end this early?”

Victor tried to laugh but he felt too much pressure on his chest so he gave up, “Call Yakov…thank you Yuuri.” He didn’t bother listening to the phone call, allowing the other medic to fiddle with his wrist, checking his pulse rate every now and again, as well as his blood pressure.

While Yuuri was on the phone he fiddled with Victors hair, plucking the blood dried strands away from his forehead and Victor basked in it. "Okay," he said while clicking the end button on Victor's phone, "Yakov said he'll take care of your afternoon classes and he expects a call when you feel better, they'll find someone to cover for you for the next couple days."

Yuuri moved for a wet cloth and sat back down, soft patting at the dried blood on Victors face and neck, then moving to his hands and around the bandages on his arms.

"Will you go out with me?" Victor said nonchalantly, and Yuuri let out a light laugh.

"Victor, you hit your head. Why don't you rest," he had a fond smile on his face but Victor pouted anyway.

Yuri would end up coming to visit Victor at the hospital and then at his apartment several times that week but he never answered Victor's question.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s been two days since the accident and Victor could finally go home from the hospital. Everyone had visited him while he was in there, even his students. Yuri looked like he was dragged along begrudgingly and for once Phichit seemed serious. Chris had brought his favorite chocolate strawberries and chatted him up about the high school drama he was missing. Yakov dropped off a large envelope of papers he had the students write … _very appreciated, Yakov,_ Victor had thought rolling his eyes.

Yuuri was there when Victor was brought into the emergency room, sitting in the room with him - light conversation to make him more comfortable – and only leaving to get Victor some water or to let the doctors and nurses take up the space. They had some imaging tests and the works, Victor wasn’t admitted upstairs until it was dark outside, that is when Yuuri finally left, with the request that Victor text him in the morning.

When Victor woke up it was around six and he was burning, he ached everywhere, his arms had felt raw, and his head throbbed. Fumbled around with his hands to find the nurse button and when she came in she knew exactly what he wanted. She administered the morphine and at his request handed him his phone. He opened a new message and found that Yuuri’s contact had been added, must've done that when he called Yakov, _sneaky_ , Victor sat with a smile.

When Yuuri had come by he brought Victor a small breakfast, he had said, “I don’t know what you like so I just got a little bit of everything,” and Victor had responded that “we’ll have to change that.”

It was Saturday now and Victor is stepping out of Chris’ car to enter his apartment building, “whoa sweetie, I’ll help ya there,” he said running around his car to open Victor’s door and pull him out. “When is your private nurse coming over?” Chris said with a smirk.

“My what?” Victor asked scrunching his eyebrows down, “oh,” he slapped at Chris’ arm, “stop…I wish he was my nurse _._ ” _I wouldn’t mind seeing him in that kind of uniform_ …

Chris rolled his eyes grabbing his discharge paperwork and bag, “hold onto me, we can’t have you falling now,” he said sticking out a shoulder to grab.

Victor reached forward and grabbed at his shoulder, leaning onto Chris as they walked up the stairs into the building, “thanks.”

Chris dropped Yuuri there and went on to talk about his new boyfriend, his not so stylish, but so cute boyfriend who likes to play with Chris’ hair and cook for him. Victor also finds out that Chris’ new boyfriend is from Lyon, France and has black hair. 

Speaking of black hair, a mop of it stands outside Victor’s apartment door with his head hung low. Chris stops there but Victor tries to keep going, releasing Chris’ shoulder and trying to march forward instead he topples forward and big hands catch him under his armpits, “whoa boy,” Chris says and Victor sees Yuuri walk towards him quickly.

“Oh my gosh, Victor, are you okay?”

“Yuuri, what are you doing here?” _Probably waiting for Phichit._

“Oh, this is the famous Yuuri,” Chris quickly steps in letting go of Victor, who unceremoniously drops to his hands and knees with an “oomph.” Chris reaches forward with both hands ignoring Victor, grabbing onto Yuuri’s right hand in a gentle grasp, “I’ve heard so much about you.” 

“Oh,” Yuuri replies with worried eyes on Victor and Chris drops his hand, “only good things I hope.” Victor manages to pull himself up now, zero grace administered.

“Ho ho, he’s cute Victor,” Chris says with a quick whack to Victor’s back sending him forward again, luckily this time Yuuri caught him with arms wrapped around his waist. _Whoa, arms._ Yuuri clearly works out, Victor can feel his hard frame under him, and he had caught him without a flinch of movement even though the fall was unexpected.

“Victor’s spoken of you as well,” Yuuri said getting caught up in the conversation, completely ignoring the absurdity of Victor being tossed around. Victor is used to Chris’ unabashed and flippant attitude, but to watch Yuuri just go along with it is amusing to say the least, _if I could hold myself up, dammit._

“Hmm? Only bad things, I hope,” the man says with a wink. “Well,” he continues taking another step back and looking at his friend being cradled by Yuuri, “I’ll just leave you to it.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Victor said at the same time as Yuuri said, “oh, uh, I didn’t mean to intrude.” But Chris ignores them both and with a big wave he turns around the corner and heads towards the elevator.

The two men looked at each other, inches away and Victor finally pulled himself out of Yuuri’s arms – which if Victor wasn’t imagining it, Yuuri seemed to tighten his grip a bit as Victor pulled away, before letting go. They got settled into Victor’s apartment, as per doctor’s orders, he is to rest and drink plenty of fluids, “eat before you take your medications,” and make an appointment with your primary care doctor for a follow up within the next ten days.

Victor settled into the couch and grabbed the blanket off the edge wrapping himself up in it, “I didn’t want to bother you, I just wanted to make sure someone had picked you up from the hospital,” Yuuri says still standing at the door.

“Please, make yourself at home,” Victor encouraged. 

Yuuri’s cheeks turned pink but he moved into the apartment more, “You’re apartment doesn’t look anything like Phichit’s. Much cleaner…” Victor laughed at that. Yuuri moved over to the kitchen counter and hiked up the grocery bag in his hand, “are you hungry, it’s just about lunch time and I imagine the discharge process took a lot longer than you thought?”

“…Yes,” Victor said after a heavy breath. Yuuri hums in acknowledgment and starts pulling all sorts of foods out of his bag and a big thermos setting them on the counter. He looks over to Victor with a blush still on his face, “mm, there are cups up there, silverware in that second drawer, and pans in the cabinet over to the left…no one more left, yeah.”

Yuuri digs around after getting permission and digs out the equipment he’ll need, a large saucer and a small pot, as well as one of Victor’s mugs. He opens the thermos and pours the liquid into the mug before bringing it over to Victor. Once he gets over to the couch he looks around until he spots a coaster, and places it on the table closes to Victor’s cocoon with the mug full of…green tea.

“Thank you Yuuri, you really-“ _didn’t have to do this,_ can’t say that because Victor really does need him to be here, “are a lifesaver,” he finishes. "Do you have to work at all this weekend, though?"

"No, no, it's okay, i switched weekends with my coworker. I want to be here, i feel..." Yuuri cuts himself off and Victor leans up on the pillow if only to get closer to the man next to him. "I hope I'm not bothering you."

Victor's hand shot out to reach for Yuuri, settling it on his knee, "Yuuri, I enjoy your company immensely."

Yuuri looked down at the hand,  _well he doesn't look offended,_ and a blush sat at the tip of his nose and his ears, smiling and biting down on his bottom lip with worry. "Ok, let me heat something up for you," he moved to stand up now and Victor let his hand fall back to his side.

Yuuri moves into the kitchen and Victor fiddles with the remote, when he can't find something to watch he just flips to the history channel and puts the volume low. Watching Yuuri now from the couch, Victor can't take his eyes off of him, watching the man pour ingredients into the pan, measuring by eye like it's the most comfortable thing in the world. Victor gets sucked into the hum of Yuuri's body, which naturally seems to make it's own kind of music. When he finally snaps out of it Yuuri brings over a bowl and a wide spoon and offers it up to Victor by placing it on the table next to him.

"I hope it's good, this is a recipe my mother taught me when i was in high school," Yuuri said with anticipation, Victor unwilling to disappoint moved for the bowl immediately.

When the hot broth touched his tongue, he offered a bright close-lipped smile and with tears stinging the corners of his eyes, "it's really delicious, Yuuri," he manages through tight lips.

"Oh my God, Victor, it's hot!" Yuuri takes the bowl away from the man with a shake of his head, picking up the spoon he blows on the steam for plenty of seconds and pushed the spoon back towards Victor, who dutifully opened his mouth.

This time when Victor drank the broth it wasn't as hot and he could actually taste the flavors, "mmm, this is so good!" This brought a smile to Yuuri's face,  _damn, he's beautiful._

Victor drank down the rest of his soup before his eyes started to feel droopy, he placed his bowl on the table next to him and let his eyes fall closed, "Yuuri, tell me something."

A quick laugh, "what do you want me to tell you about Victor..." when Victor only answered him with a shrug roll and a "hmm," Yuuri laughed again and went on to tell him something. Victor felt the tips of Yuuri's fingers brush against his forehead in a move to wipe his bangs to the side but he didn't open his eyes, too afraid to spoil the moment, so he just waited and listened to Yuuri speak. He talked about an old teacher of his, Minako, when he was younger his anxiety was at peak and his parents were at a loss as to how they could help, Minako allowed him to use her studio and he would go whenever he felt like he was going to cry over nothing or couldn't stop shaking. His parents always knew where he'd run off to, even if it was at three in the morning, but that didn't mean they appreciated the sudden disappearance.

Yuuri talked about how his friend Yuuko laughing at him because she would find him dancing to no music, _she laughed but I bet she couldn't take her eyes off of him._ With his eyes still closed, Victor pictured Yuuri's body moving around a quiet room, with spins and folds creating his own music and his heart beat fast.

"Yuuri, go out with me?" It came out as a sort of murmur and Victor struggled to stay out of his dreams.

He felt a hand wrap around his own, it was warm and callused, "ah, Victor, you're practically asleep, I'll let you rest." Victor knew his lips turned down when his hand was released, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Will you be here when I wake up?" He asked but he never heard an answer because sleep dragged him under.

\-   -   -

When Victor finally opened his eyes again it's because something -  _or someone?_  - was licking his lips, "pleh," he spits and using his hand to push at whoever this was he feels soft curly fur, "ah, Makkachin! Did you miss me?"

Victor sits up now, looking around at his empty apartment _,_ with no Yuuri in sight Victor pouts his lips and moves for his phone. The sun is low in the sky and his phone lets him know that's because it's now six at night. He pats Makkachin's head with one hand as he scrolls through his messages with the other; notifications from Yakov saying he'd be stopping by, messages from Chris asking about his 'hot nurse,' some instagram notifications, and several emails.

He hear's the bathroom door click unlocked and out steps... "Yuuri," Victor says unable to control himself brightening up considerably.

Wiping his hands on his pants, "Makkachin, I asked you not to bother Victor while he slept, tsk tsk," Yuuri warns with no real malice and Makkachin pads over to Yuuri with no real regard towards the comment offering his paw to the man. Victor doesn't even realize he's watching with his shoulders low, his head tilted, he's biting his lip and he sighs lightly. Yuuri looks over at him now, "sorry to disturb your nap, Victor," troubled lips pointed to the silver haired man as he walks over to sit next to him.

"Oh, Yuuri, that's alright, I missed you anyway." Victor knows that sentence makes him vulnerable but he couldn't help the desire to watch red trickle up Yuuri's neck and stain his cheeks.

He smiled with crinkled eyes as the brunet hid behind his hands, "Victor," Yuuri whined out with an emphasis on the 'tor.'

"Yuuri, do you have anywhere you need to go? I'd like to get out of the stuffy indoors."

"Hmm, okay," Yuuri responded, getting up from his seat and walking out the door.

Victor looked around then at Makkachin who was barking at the closed door, "oh no, he forgot I can't walk... how far will he go before he realizes he's left me to die on this couch?" Victor sits there mumbling to himself for another couple minutes and he's so caught up in himself he doesn't notice when the door opens again and Yuuri steps through with a wheelchair.

"Ready?"

"Huh?" Victor looks up at Yuuri now, "oh, Yuuri!" the silver haired man nearly shouts reaching towards the man with both arms and falling to the floor, "ow..."

"Victor!" Yuuri runs over now, wheelchair forgotten, kneeling next to Victor, "are you okay? Jeez, what were you thinking?"

"Ah, Yuuri, I've fallen again, please hold me." He says looking up at the man through his bangs with a big smile touching his cheeks. Yuuri closes his eyes in mirth, laughing at Victor's absurdity. "I thought you forgot me," Victor said, face falling sullen.

Yuuri's eyes went soft, "Victor, how could I ever," he reaches forward and cups Victor's chin in his hand, and when Victor's nose tints pink that same hand moves up, Yuuri's pointer finger pressing on the tip of Victor's nose and Yuuri flashes an evocative smile.

Struck by Yuuri's confidence, Victor's eyes go wide and he becomes unable to find his voice. The smile turns soft on Yuuri's face and now he's offering Victor an arm to grab onto. Victor leans on him as they limp over to the wheelchair and Yuuri places a blanket across his lap, "it's not cold enough for a jacket but it is a bit nippy."  _Nippy, cute._  

"Thanks." They move through the threshold and ride the elevator down with idle chitchat, "where'd you get this wheelchair?"

"Phichit broke his leg in college and he can be a little _extra_... so of course he needed a wheelchair, 'crutches? Disgusting!'" He mimicked and Victor snickered at the accuracy.

There are still plenty of people out on the street since it's not too late yet - regardless of the dark sky - and Victor takes a deep breath, "it's really beautiful out... I haven't really gotten to be outside since the accident, I hope you've been enjoying the weather for the both of us."

Victor's tipped his head back so he could see Yuuri, who looks down at him, "I love October, the wind is heavy and brings the leaves down, the colors people wear fade to match the dead leaves, and the town puts up these string lights to go with the earlier sun set," he points now up to the lanterns on the side of the street and they do look beautiful. "I bet you're starving, you haven't eaten since two o'clock, I've taken care of Makkachin so how about I take care of you now."

"Yuuri, you've been taking care of me all this time," Victor offered, and Yuuri blushed that thousand dollar blush, "I know this cute little place just two blocks that way," pointing east, "does that sound good?"

Yuuri nods and when he thinks Victor doesn't see him, he speaks "sounds good." They move towards their destination, it's a quiet place and there are two different entrances; one leads to a bar with bar stools and a small menu only featuring three food options and several specialty drinks - he comes to this part with Chris a couple times a month. The part he'll be bringing Yuuri into is lightly lit, the tables are very close together - although it's never full in here - and has a very extensive menu...in french.  _He'll see that for himself._

The waitress moves one chair to the back so Victor can just wheel himself up to the table and Yuuri takes a seat across from him, she hands them both a menu and gives them some space.

"Vi-Victor, I can't read this!" Yuri whispers dismayed.

"Oh my, it completely slipped my mind, sorry Yuuri, I'll order for the both of us, if that's alright?"

"Yes, i mean, yes of course. I didn't know you could speak french."

Yuuri's steadied himself now, "I speak fluent english and russian, but I can definitely manage myself in french and spanish."

"Oh, a man of many words, impressive," Yuuri smirks at him,  _this atmosphere is absolutely working,_ "what can you say?" Yuuri's looking at him with hooded eyes, and Victor swallows thick.

"Ah, hmm," he clears his throat, "les animaux sont interdits..."  _Really, that's the best you can think of?!_

Yuuri let out a deep breath, "oh," he said softly,  _it worked? Did that work?_ "What does it mean?"

"Hm," Victor felt the heat rise from his neck and brush up to his forehead, he looks down at his forks and fiddles with the napkin, "y'know, definitely something-" he faces Yuuri now, he can't lose, not when Yuuri's being like  _this,_ his cheeks are blazing, "-hot."

"I'd like to hear more another time, okay?" Victor's fingers tap against his knee but he gave himself a mental high five.

They're pretty much the only ones in here tonight so he's not surprised when the waitress ends up back at the table only a few moments later, "Vous avez choisi?"

Victor prattled back some menu items he knew off the top of his head and asked for two glasses of water. When he turned back to Yuuri, the man was watching him chin in hand, "Victor, everything about you is so overwhelming. I hope I'm not boring to be with, I know you have plenty of friends you could be spending the evening with, I've already taken up so much of your day." Victor pictured nervous Yuuri, the Yuuri he talked to in the elevator, that was the Yuuri who would speak like this with him. But in front of him was just Yuuri, not a man who looked insecure, he looked completely comfortable talking down about himself.

Victor frowned, "Yuuri, I don't think there's anybody I'd rather be with," he reached across the table and grabbed onto Yuuri's hand. Yuuri let out a gasp but relaxed into the hold, biting his lip.

Yuuri didn't end up answering him and instead Victor changed the subject to something lighter,  _I'll end up telling our kids this was our first date, it can't end in tears._ The food came and they dug in to chicken cordon bleu, coq au vin, and duck à l'orange. Victor doesn't really remember tasting anything, he was much to absorbed in the mmm's his table mate was making.

Yuuri's indulgent eating left some stray dijon sauce on his cheek and Victor knew this was his time to shine, thankfully the tables were short, Victor lifted his hands from his lap and moved across the table quickly, "Yuuri."

"Hmm?" He looked up to meet blue eyes.

"You've just got something..." Victor wiped the sauce with one quick swipe,  _lock eyes, you can do this,_ he stared down at Yuuri and licked the sauce from his finger tip slowly.

Yuuri's eyebrows shot up, but just as quick they fell back down and Yuuri responded by licking his bottom lip and biting. This sort of lip biting was different then anything previously done and they both knew this.

Victor only risked one moment to look away, finding the waitress in his periphery first, "l'addition!" She nodded but his eyes were already back on Yuuri.

"Listen Yuuri," Victor's eyes turned hard, he was about to ask Yuuri a question and he didn't want there to be any wiggle room, he crossed his hands in front of him and leaned in.

Yuuri's eyes softened and the atmosphere changed between the two of them, "yes?"

"This," he motions between the two of them, "this is good, yeah? I want more of this, once I'm all healed lets go out on a date. Yes, a date, no misunderstandings here. I've been trying to ask you for several days and you shrug it off, no sir, not here. Hmph," Victor finishes feeling triumphant but he is quickly deflated when Yuuri lets out a laugh.

He's holding onto his sides and his eyes are scrunched closed, his nose folded and his head back howling. "What the, Yuuri? I'm very serious here. I think you're beautiful and..."

Yuuri finally stops laughing at the word beautiful and looks up, so Victor keeps going, "you're stunning, you light up the room as soon as you walk in, your eyes are honest and your smiles change everything, I like talking with you and laughing with you...maybe not when you're laughing  _at_ me, but-"

"Oh! Sorry Victor, I wasn't laughing at you," Yuuri's red now, "I  _do_ want to go out with you, I would love that. I'm laughing because well, I've already told you twice I would like to go out with you... I guess you just didn't hear me because you were either falling asleep or concussed." His hand went to the nape of his neck and he wasn't looking at Victor now.

"You... you said yes? I've been thinking this whole time I wasn't-"  _worth your time,_ "gonna be able to get you to say yes." The waitress had dropped the check onto the table and left them quickly.

"Anyone would be so lucky to go out with you, Victor, here you are asking for no misunderstandings and we were in the middle of one already," he snickered at this and Victor couldn't help it, his pout quickly turned to a laugh.

"Okay. Okay, great, I'm excited! Thanks Yuuri... do you wanna get out of here now?" The sun had gone down and Victor wanted to sleep in his bed. He pulled out his wallet and at the same time so did Yuuri, "It's okay, let me please, you can pay when you pick the place."

Yuuri agreed to these conditions and put his wallet back into his trousers. Victor peaked at the bill, pulled out several twenty dollar bills and plopped them in the folder before allowing himself to be pushed away by Yuuri.

It's safe to say neither of them wanted to give up the others company but it was late and Victor "needs rest," Yuuri had insisted, helping him into his apartment and telling him to keep the wheelchair.

Yuuri leans down now so he is eye to eye with Victor, "if tonight was so amazing, I can hardly imagine what an actual date with you will be like," he leaned in and planted a light kiss on Victor's cheek using his thumb to brush over the other cheek at the same time. Before Victor could manage to find words Yuuri whispered, "goodnight Vitya," and pushed off from the ground to exit.

When Victor finally found his voice, he could only choke out a, "Vitya? Jesus..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh jeez, sorry for all the dialogue, it's just so fun to write!  
> hope this was enjoyable!
> 
> les animaux sont interdits: animals prohibited  
> Vous avez choisi: what would you like  
> l'addition: check


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor goes back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did something a little different and added a Yuuri POV in here somewhere!  
> Also changed the rating of the story, I never expected to write smut today but i did! so if that doesn't interest you, I'm sorry, you can skip it if you so please, you'll know when it's coming.

Victor didn't get to see the sweet blush on Yuuri's face when he left that night but Yuuri doesn't get to see the giddy smile on Victor's face for his first morning back to work.

"Mr. Nikiforov, what's got you all smiley?" One of his students started their inquiries.

"Happy to be back with us," offered another.

"As if," Victor joked back to his students with a smile. "No, ahem," he schooled his features now, "let's get straight to it shall we. I went over the papers you wrote under Mr. Feltsman, here are you grades."

He makes his way to the first person, several voices speak here, "papers?"

Maggie got hers back first, then Tommy, moving down the aisle, "wait, Mr. Nikiforov? we didn't write papers for Mr. Feltsman."

"Did you even look at the dates on these," Maggie askes, "April...this is my science paper."

Tommy added on then, "this is my english paper from last December..."

"What?" Victor looks down at the papers in his hand, February, and it was definitely nothing to do with history. "Jeez, was Yakov just trying to keep me busy," Victor whined, "what a waste of time."

"I mean thanks for giving me a 95% on this, Mr. Nikiforov, very generous considering Mrs. Garcia only gave me a 82%," Lisa chirped from her corner of the room.

"...I mean you made a good argument. Anyway forget this," he moved to the trash.

"Wait, I wanna see what you graded me for!" A couple students hopped on and encouraged him to give their papers back, and he did, reluctantly.  _Thank god this isn't Yuri's class, he'd laugh at me for sure._

With his first class of the day done, he was moving in a good mood, and he made his way to Christophe's room. When he got to room 101 he didn't bother knocking because he knew Christophe was also free this period.

"Ah, my friend, you look much better today," he spoke from his desk.

Victor used his hands to invite Chris' gaze, "good as new," he gave a quick 360 for him and they both laughed.

"I see that, your nurse must've patched you up real nice," Victor rolled his eyes at this.

"Did you know what Yakov was doing to me?" Victor asks in an attempt to change the subject.

Chris complies, "ah, no what happened?"

"He gave me papers that the students wrote last year to have me grade."

Christophe's laugh was loud and unforgiving, Victor pouted at him, "sorry, sorry, just. How did you not know?" He kept laughing then so Victor got up to leave. "Wait, wait, don't go," but he didn't stop laughing, instead he laughed harder and moved to grip his sides. Victor didn't stop, he turned around to give Chris his offended eyes, squinting as if to say 'how dare you,' and left the room.

\- - -

Yuuri entered the building through a side door, where he was greeted by a security guard, "good morning, sir, I'm here with my crew from Dearborn Fire Department for the fire safety awareness assembly." Three people filed in behind him then, Rooke, Di, and Keyan; the four of them adorned their departments names on their t-shirts so the guard had no reason not to believe them.

"Of course, lemme get you some passes, and then I'll ask someone to take you down to the auditorium." He started to sign off on some yellow visitor passes, he gave each of them one and as they moved to stick them on he got up and walked into the office located behind him.

Just as quick as he went in, he came out with...a student? "Hi I'm Guang Hong, Mr. Peters, asked me to show you to the auditorium, right this way," the boy walked down the hall without waiting for us to answer.

Di and Rooke are making jokes as they walk through the hallways and Yuuri can't help but notice that Di looks much tougher when her body's not being swallowed by the fire gear, and in contrast Rooke actually looks a lot smaller and less intimidating. When they walk into the auditorium, it's bright and the yellow lights bother his eyes right away, they get onto the stage and the lights are warmer and less harsh, thankfully. Several other members of the department are already there, as well as Yuuri's fellow EMT Seung Gil, they all help to set up the stage so it's easier to move from topic to topic.

"I'm gonna go grab some water," Yuuri announces before moving to exit the auditorium. He walks through the hall way hoping one of these routes will guide him to a vending machine or the cafeteria. It doesn't seem like he's ended up in the correct area because he's by rows and rows of blue lockers.

There's a group huddled by a locker, a girl and two boys, it doesn't look like a bad situation except the girl is sort of shrinking away and the boys look a little too close. Yuuri waits a minute, not willing to move in on something that could be nothing. After three seconds he knows this is a mistake because one of the boys reaches up for the girls head scarf and tugs at it to pull it free. Yuuri moves towards them then but with the blink of an eye, someone is already there. The man moved towards the kids his suit jacket already pulled from one arm, he removes the jacket completely and places it in front of the girl to block her from the boys or anyone else around for that matter.

That's when Yuuri see's that this man is actually Victor,  _jeez._ Victor holds out his hand expectantly, then says in a stern voice, "this is absolutely unacceptable Zach, give her hijab to me. Mahta, we're not looking at you," the boy hands the hijab to Victor and takes a big step back, "here, you can put this back on."

Victor's eyes never leave the two boys, it's the first time Yuuri's ever seen any semblance of anger on the mans face. He can hear the girl crying but he doesn't look in her direction, he's too afraid to offend anyone. A minute passes and it's almost quiet, the girl's hand could be seen on Victor's arm, letting him know it's alright to lower the jacket, "Mahta, please step into my classroom, no one's in there, I'll be right there."

The girl listens to Victor,  _who wouldn't, with his voice like that?_ He turns to face the boys, let's them keep their space and says in a cold tone, "I don't know what you think you're doing, but that doesn't go on, I never want to see that again. Go to Mr. Feltsman's office and tell him what you did, I'll talk to him later so I'll know if you didn't listen to me."

The boys didn't object, Yuuri could tell they were shaking from back here, they turned on their heels quickly and walked past Yuuri to go to - what he assumed was the direction of - Mr. Feltsman's office.

Victor noticed Yuuri than, shock crossed his features and Yuuri gave a sort of sad smile towards him. When Victor started towards Yuuri, he started walking as well to meet Victor in the middle. When they were close enough, Victor asked, "what are you doing here, Yuuri?" It wasn't harsh, it sounded soft even. He doesn't put his jacket back on, instead folding it to lay over his arm.

The tips of Yuuri's ears heated up but he kept eye contact with Victor, "after your accident last week Mr. Feltsman and I were talking in your hospital room, he asked if my department was willing to do a safety speech for the kids here. I would've told you but I didn't think I was gonna be one of the people to come... until this morning, anyway."

Victor smiled now and opened his mouth to reply, Yuuri cut him off though, "you should get back to that girl though," now Yuuri's face was concerned and Victor replied with the same features.

"I know," he breathed out, "I don't know what got into him, I can't believe I have kids like that here..."

"High school..." Yuuri offered.

"I ... I just thought this school was different," Victor looked disappointed,  _is he upset with himself?_ Yuuri reached a hand up to place it on Victor's upper arm. "I'll go to Mahta, but... I'll be at the assembly, watching you." Victor gave a soft smile before turning away to go into his classroom.

Yuuri moved back in the direction he came and as we walked back to the auditorium he thought about what he just witnessed. He was so completely bothered by that act of bullying, he had been bullied when he was younger but it never went past elementary school. That may or may not have been because Mari showed up at his class one day to pick him up, and she may or may not have been extremely intimidating. What was bothering Yuuri the most right now, though, wasn't the bullying. No, what was bothering him was how  _hot_ Victor had looked taking action and scoulding.  _Ah, no Yuuri, you can't think like that, a girl was crying. But he really did look super hot._..

Both of Yuuri's hands came up to slap at his cheeks, the sound echo'd off the walls and Yuuri's eyes shot open in discomfort

"I thought you were going to get water," Di said with a mischievous smile on her face, noticing the red on Yuuri's cheeks.

"Diwata, come help me over here and leave Yuuri alone," Yuuri mentally thanked Keyan for distracting her and turned to go take a seat.

"Yuuri would ya help," Seung Gil said in a cool voice and Yuuri jumped up, butt halfway to the seat.

"Right, right, sorry."

At the same time he heard Di as she walked away, "what, I know his pretty bae works here."

"He's n-not my b-bae!?" Yuuri almost shouts, face red growing redder around the already red cheeks.  _He's way too perfect anyway._

Everyone ignored his exclamation and Yuuri appreciated that, setting out to place everything in it's spot on the stage.

\- - -

Victor clicked the classroom door closed and moved to sit at the students desk next to Mahta, shaking his head with sad eyes he turned to her, "I'm so sorry, Mahta, we should be working harder as a school to avoid situations like this, I am appalled at their behavior and I promise I will try to prevent this in the future."

"Please, Mr. Nikiforov, it's okay," the girls tears had dried up and been wiped up already, "I'm used to it."

"Ugh!" Victor palmed his forehead,"no, I don't want that at all! You're what, sixteen years old and  _used to it?_ Used to being abused, I can't stand that, this is..." He was unable to form words, truly aghast, "Mahta, please, I don't want to put you on the spot but if anything like this ever happens to you...or anyone else for that matter will you let me know? Maybe we can work together to figure out a way to stop this?"

The girl gave a smile, it seemed like she was the one who had to comfort Victor now, and it looked like she was used to it. Used to not only bullying, but also used to consoling adults who wouldn't ever understand what she went through.

"No, you're right, this is something I should take care of, as a teacher, with other teachers. Sorry."  _Man, I'm bad at this._

"Mr. Nikiforov, I really appreciate you stepping in when you did, I have very nice hair but those boys especially don't get to see it," she laughed now and Victor let out a sigh of relief.

"Of course, it's the least I could do, they're going to announce an assembly soon, were you supposed to be in a class? I'll write you an excuse notice."

"No I have this period free, I was going to get a book in my locker and then sit in the cafeteria."

"Would you like to walk over to the auditorium with me?" Victor wanted to get there sooner than later so he could stand by the stage... for no reason in particular. Not even a cute brunet.

"I was going to meet my friend, but thank you," Mahta moved to get up and Victor followed her movements, "I'll see you later, sir." She quickly exited and Victor brushed off his pants of imaginary dust. He walked to his desk and grabbed his cell phone from the drawer and hung his jacket over his chair before leaving the room and clicked the door closed.

 _"Attention students and teachers of the Blue and Gold team, please make your way over to the auditorium for an assembly. Please head over in an organized fashion and be quiet in the halls."_ Victor's eyes widened at the overhead announcement and quickened his pace.

"No, what," he spoke out loud to no one, "I wanted to get there first," he whined and practically jogged over to the entrance of the big room. He pushed his way through the doors and to his dismay saw that was in fact not the first one. A pout on his lips he walked over to Yakov who had a scowl on his face and crossed arms. "Hello Yakov."

"Please, Vitya, when we're in school refer to me more professionally."

"Ah, my apologies, All Mighty Yakov," a smile breaking across his face.

Yakov squints up at him, "Victor," he said in his dean voice.

"Yes, sir." Victor's lips shut tight than and he looked around the room. Zach and the other boy were sitting in the front row farthest from Yakov and himself and were looking uncomfortable, unwilling to make eye contact with Victor or anyone else for that matter.  _Good, at least they actually listened to me, that's rare._

He looked up at the stage and didn't see Yuuri, but there were some familiar faces, the woman who had pulled him from the elevator, and one of the men as well. The rest must have been other people from Yuuri's fire department, they were moving about the stage, one guy was fiddling with a fire extinguisher and another was pumping up a blood pressure cuff on himself. The room began to fill with students and teachers alike and Victor settled himself against the wall where he could be seen by Yuuri when the man makes his entrance.

Janet, the receptionist in the principles office, stepped up to the mike on the side of the stage, she tapped at the mike with her finger and then began to speak into it, "ahem," used to silence the crowd. "Good morning everybody, today is a special day, we've brought in the Dearborn Fire Department to speak with us today about fire prevention." The men still sitting on stage waved out to the crowd.

Once Janet had finished her introduction she walked down the stairs to her left and one of the men up there stood up to speak. He gave a short introduction that sounded more like a recruitment speech, but then he went on to talk about the importance of CO2 detectors and fire alarms in the home. Saying something about head aches meaning too much carbon dioxide in the home, and to get out immediately. Victor started to lose interest when another guy came up and started talking about fire extinguishers and the different types used for chemical fires versus wood fires and maybe something else? He definitely should've been listening but he was more interested in the cute EMT who was going to speak.

A man with black hair came out instead and he began explaining the importance of his job as an EMT, Victor slumped against the wall in dismay, not that he wasn't interested in Yuuri's job, he just didn't want to hear about the after effects on a person from a fire from this guy.

But Yuuri did eventually come on stage, though it was in a rather unconventional position, the woman fire fighter had Yuuri in a military carry over her shoulders, he was kicking his legs and begging through his teeth, "Di, put me down right now!"

"Good morning students!" ~~The woman~~ Di shouted out onto the stage, no mike necessary. The students replied with a big laugh and Victor jolted off the wall now that Yuuri was here.

"Di, I'm not a child, please this is embarrassing," Yuuri whispered, though Victor could at least hear him, that means the whole front row could as well.

She kept speaking never once paying any attention to Yuuri on her shoulders, "we have a special show for you today, but I'm gonna need some volunteer's to come up on stage." No one raised their hands, Di skimmed through the crowd, "whoa, too many hands at once! Guess I'll pick." Her eyes scan around and she picks out two girls sitting close by then her eyes land on Victor and he tries to look away, "and you!" Her finger points at him now,  _ah great,_ "the silver haired man over there." She has a big smile on her face now.

He lets out a breath and moves towards the stairs, the two other girls have already made it up and were standing next to Di. He walks up, using a hand to shield his eyes from the stage lights, "hi, thanks for that time on the elevator," he mumbles and she responds with a clap to his shoulder.

He falls forward a bit, just catching himself and leans behind the woman, "hi Yuuri."

"Ugh," Yuuri lets fall from his lips but he covers his face with his hands, still dangling off Di's shoulders.

"Now," Di continues, "we usually save this for the elementary school students, but Yuuri here, would like to show you some sweet moves incase you ever get caught in a fire." She finally places him on the floor and he turns to face the crowd, unwilling to make eye contact with Victor.

Yuuri lets out a huff and walks over to the mike stand to grab the mike loose and walks back to the group, "girls could you please introduce yourselves."

He holds the mike in front of Jessica who speaks quick, "my name is Jess, uh..."

"Yeah no thats fine," he gives her a sympathetic smile, "and you?"

The other girl cups her hands over Yuuri's and meets the mike with her lips, "I'm Lauren."

Well at least Lauren looks a little more excited at being chosen. "Alright, thanks girls, oh and you sir," Yuuri offers the mike to Victor now.

"Mr. Nikiforov," and Victor uses his teacher voice here so that his students won't have a chance to take him lightly, he gaze settled on the crowd. Yuuri pulls the mike back so Victor looks towards him and the brunet is biting his bottom lip,  _oh._

Yuuri quickly snaps back into reality, and turns back to the crowd of students, "alright thank you three for joining me up here, although I didn't really wanna do this..." the kids laugh at this but Yuuri continues, "I'm gonna show you the 'stop, drop, and roll' technique, you can use this if you or an article of clothing that you're wearing catches on fire."

The group of them start rolling around on stage and the kids are laughing and Di is laughing off to the side, and probably the entire fire department is laughing behind them. They do this several times and even Victor starts laughing at this ridiculousness, high school kids already know this "technique."

"That was great," Yuuri deadpans and when everyone laughs at his attitude he lets a half smile slip onto his face with mischievous eyes. A thick blanket flies out from stage right and thumps against Yuuri's head, knocking his glasses askew before falling to the floor. Yuuri unfazed says, "now I'll show you what to do if you catch on fire via chemicals."

The kids laugh again at Yuuri's nonchalance and Victor does too. Yuuri puts the mike down again and picks up the blanet, Victor imitates spilling some chemicals and catching on fire. Yuuri walks over quickly and with one flick of his wrists he shakes the thick blanket out and wraps it around victor who spins into it ungracefully.

"Quick, step into the chemical shower," Yuuri says in mock urgency.

"Woooo, strip Mr. Nikiforov," someone shouts from the middle of the big room and the other kids whistle and laugh at the offending words.

Victor's eyebrows drop and he's about to say something but then Yuuri laughs next to him and it's the sweetest sound and it's light and Yuuri looks beautiful when he laughs. Victor wouldn't be very intimidating right now anyway wrapped up like a piggy in a blanket.

The class bells rang over head, but you could barely hear it over the laughs of the kids. "Alright, alright, I think that's it, I don't have anything else to show you," Yuuri says after picking the mike back up.

"Great," Di says storming back onto the stage picking Yuuri up the same way she had him before, he let out a shriek into the mike and dropped it. His "No, Di Goddam-" cut off by the loud bang into the speakers from the mike hitting the stage. Everyone cupped at their ears with a loud groan until the echo of the bang silenced. Di walked off with Yuuri now and Jessica upwrapped Victor from his blanket cocoon.

Another fireman walked over to retrieve the blanket and the two girls returned to their seats. Victor walked back over to Yakov and Ms. Crispino, the science teacher, walked up. Victor was lost in thought again, thinking about Yuuri's smile, how bright it was, painting his cheeks pink and making his eyes crinkle. He caught a bit of what Ms. Crispino was saying, where the chemical showers were located, as well as the eye wash stations, in the science classrooms.

Ten minutes later the auditorium dispersed and the kids went to their fifth period classes, Victor stayed back to wait for Yuuri. Instead of waiting for the brunet to show his face though Victor made moves and walked to the back stage area, a bigger man stopped him though.

"Hey great job up there, boy," Victor tried to look around the big shoulders but was unable to see Yuuri.

"Oh, thank you, I had a great teacher up there with me though, oh, perhaps you know where Yuuri is so I can thank him."

"Hoho! Of course, Yuuri's over there," he pointed towards the far end and Victor was happy to see the man of the hour exactly where he was said to be.

"Thanks," Victor barely managed to get out before walking away and towards Yuuri.

Yuuri was fiddling with the buttons on his shirt when Victor made his way over, he moved to wipe the sweat from his brow and Victor took in the sight. The way Yuuri's arm folded up exposed his arms for what they were,  _big._  

Victor - unwilling to disturb Yuuri - waited to be noticed himself, the students waiting for him be damned. "Oh, Victor,"  _caught._

"Hi, Yuuri, you did great," Victor really wanted to stay and talk but he did have to go to class, "have lunch with me next period?"

Victor was confident but Yuuri's face fell, "sorry Victor, I promised my sister I would call her at that time," he bit his lip, it was different from the way he had done it on stage earlier. Victor's confidence plummeted in that moment and he looked down.

"Oh," was all he could muster.

"But... we have to do one more assembly for the rest of the students, i think it's eighth period? So, after you're done with your last class?"

 Victor smiled then, "yes! I don't have a ninth period, you should finish the assembly half way through ninth, so meet me in my classroom? You saw where it is before, right?"

"Yeah, absolutely, okay, g-great."

Victor gave a firm nod, turned on his heel and marched off then. He didn't want to say anything else, just in case, he didn't want to ruin this nice moment.

\- - -

He entered his fifth period half an hour into the period, thats fifteen minutes after the students got here, and left only fifteen minutes left in the class.  _Whoops._

"Mr. Nikiforov, you're very late," teased Maria from the third row.

"Sorry, sorry," Victor spoke, asking for forgiveness.

"Don't worry, we definitely enjoy a free period over listening to you ramble on," Yuri said. Victor clutched at his chest in mock hurt.

"Yuri, you wound me," the kids laughed and Victor smiled. "No, seriously sorry, I didn't know what time it was," he lied, "you guys can just relax the last fifteen minutes... quietly."

The quiet part of it only lasted two minutes as Victor settled into his seat. Everyone loves school days like this, even teachers. Unfortunately since Victor is a Gold team teacher he wouldn't get to go to the other assembly with the Green and Red students so he wouldn't get to watch Yuuri again.

The day swung by quickly, Victor ate lunch with Chris who noticed him sulking but knew exactly why and chose not to say anything. The Green and Red students heard about the little play the "cute EMT guy and Mr. Nikiforov" put on in the first assembly and were getting excited for their own assembly. When Eighth period did come they didn't get the same show, Yuuri didn't even come on stage, Di never dragged him onto stage and those students were very disappointed.

Victor closed out his eighth period and the bell rang, he knew the assembly would go on for another fifteen minutes or so. While he waited he started organizing some papers and putting things back to the way it was before he was unceremoniously hospitalised and had missed a couple days.

Victor knew when this assembly ended the Red and Green students would be free to leave because there wouldn't be a reason to go to the end of their ninth period classes. There was a knock at his door and he answered with "come in."

Yuuri slipped in, closing the door quickly behind him and leaning against it, Victor looked over at him. Yuuri spoke, "do you typically see students again after this point?" He was quiet.

"Hum, no, not really. If they were looking for me they would go to my office in the south wing anyway, I'm not usually over here during this period."

Yuuri pushed off the door with a smirk and moved to the students desk placed directly in front of Victor's desk. The atmosphere changed now, it was thick, not it a bad way, the silence felt excruciating...but not in a bad way. Yuuri tilted his head a bit to the side and looked up at Victor biting his lip, (yes, the same way he had on stage earlier).

"Mr. Nikiforov, I have to admit something."

Victor pulled back at the name Yuuri called him,  _fuck,_ but he gathered himself quickly unwilling to let this pass. He folds his hands onto the desk and leans over it. "Whats that Yuuri?" The brunets eyes flash dark and he curls into himself more, licking his lips. "Jesus," Victor can't stop himself from saying, at least he said it quietly.

Yuuri must've caught it though because his smile turned predatory like. "The last paper I handed in was completely forged. I didn't write any of it," he offered a fake pout.

Victor liked where this was going, his stomach was doing flips, who knew he had a kink like this, _dear god,_ "Yuuri, this is serious," Victor's face was schooled into his usual teacher face, "that's an automatic F, and I'll have to call your parents to discuss the proper  _punishment_."

Yuuri feigned a gasp and put on a worried look, "oh Mr. Nikiforov, isn't there _something_ I can do? Maybe to get that F up to an A, you could give me any punishment of your choosing, just don't call my parents, please."

Victor could feel himself getting hot, his pants began to feel tight, he looked down quick and- yup this is happened, his head snaps back up to look at Yuuri who's smile is absolutely dangerous. Victor gulps down the words he really wants to say and continues with, "I can think of several punishments, Yuuri, but I'll only be willing to give you an A if you do some extra credit. You'll have to get creative for this assignment, you'll need to-"  _oh my god, am i seriously about to say this? Yes, yes I am._ "-figure out a way to take care of this." Victor points down at his crotch now.

Yuuri get's the hint loud and clear, he stands up slowly and saunters over to the side of Victor's desk, the silver haired man has turned in his chair to face Yuuri who was now slipping onto his knees. His hands lay flat atop Victor's thighs and slide down, Yuuri looks up at Victor with his brown eyes and lets his breath fall heavy through his lips.

"You mean this, sir?"

"Yes," Victor can't help but answer before Yuuri even finishes his sentence, "please." Victor's knees tingled under Yuuri's soft touch, he wants to touch Yuuri too but he wasn't sure how far Yuuri wanted to go with this, so he'll wait.

Yuuri smiles again here, "okay," he said sweetly. He moved his hands now and Victor felt the loss, but gets excited as Yuuri's fingers deftly play at his trousers button and zipper. Victor lifted his hips off the chair a bit so Yuuri could pull the pants down his thighs, red touched Yuuri's cheeks but he keeps going, pulling Victor's boxer briefs down as well. His cock fell against his stomach, already pretty hard; Victor blushed pink, a little bit embarrassed that he was already like this, but also a little bit not caring because Yuuri was between his legs.

"May I?" Yuuri asked, almost effectively killing Victor, who could only nod in astonishment. Yuuri moved in slowly, his brown eyes stayed locked with blue, sticked out his tongue he licked up from Victor's balls to the tip of his cock. He let his tongue swirl around the tip, lapping up the pre-come that had slightly spilled out.

Then he took some into his mouth completely, his right hand came up and gripped at the base, working there while his mouth worked at the tip. As his throat adjusted to the intrusion Yuuri closed his eyes and moved down more and more with his lips, humming around Victor who couldn't help but moan at the soft vibration.

Yuuri's other hand was palming at his own crotch, soon he unbuttoned his own pants and stuck this hand in, touching himself in rhythm to the way he sucked on Victor.

Victor felt like he was about to explode when Yuuri pulled off completely, Victor let out a disappointed moan, but pulled himself together to say, "Yuuri I can't give you an A with an unfinished project." He couldn't believe he managed to get that out.

Yuuri gave a giggle and said, "but, Mr. Nikiforov, I just wanted to ask how my presentation was going?"

"Amazing, full marks so far," Victor wanted to praise Yuuri forever.

Yuuri must've liked what he heard because he moved back in, over Victor's cock taking it completely this time and he couldn't get but jerk his hips up into the warmth. Yuuri coughed onto his cock but didn't pull off, with his free hand he pushed Victor's hips into the chair, not giving him any wiggle room, this said 'don't move.' So Victor didn't, instead using his own hands to tug at Yuuri's hair lightly, and ten seconds later he was crumbling underneath Yuuri, "Yuuri I'm gonna- I'm gonna c-come."

But Yuuri didn't stop, he moved faster, pumped himself harder and Victor was overwhelmed, spilling into Yuuri's mouth, who continued sucking Victor until his was done, moaning around Victor once more and he, himself, spilled onto his hand.

Victor leaned back in his chair, head hanging back and Yuuri fell back, landing on his butt, both of them breathing heavily.Victor pulled himself together quicker, grabbing a box of tissues off the corner of his desk, he slumped to the floor next to Yuuri and moved to clean him up.

Yuuri reached for his wrist, "you d-don't have to do that," now he wouldn't look Victor in the eye and his cheeks were red again.

"I... I would like to?" Victor's gaze was soft and when Yuuri looked up at him he released Victors wrist and gave a small nod. Victor began wiping him down and Yuuri took a tissue for himself to wipe his hands. Then they both stood up and buttoned up their pants again.

Victor's nose was pink and Yuuri was red down to his neck, _how far does this blush go down._ They stood there for a minute in silence and the last bell went off, startling the two of them, the halls outside the door filled with students voices.

"Oh my goood," Yuuri said in revulsion, realising where they were and what they had just done in this space.

Victor's eyes got wide, _oh no, did I take it too far, maybe we shouldn't have done that here..._ His mind running wild until Yuuri's disgusted face fell away and his nose crinkled, a loud laugh falling past his lips.

"I can't believe I just did that... Victor I'm so sorry, in your school no less."

Victor relaxed at Yuuri's laugh but he could tell the laugh was just a way to distract Yuuri, himself, from the reality of the situation because he just kept rambling on and on.

"I mean, this is your workplace and you just got back _today_ from a major accident. You had students right next door," his voice hitched up, "jeez I must seem like such a...such a... we haven't even gone on that date, we haven't even kissed, and my mouth was just on your-" His hands came up and covered his face, he continued to mumble through his hands though, Victor could barely make it out. "-r voice was just so sexy before..."

Victor moved right up to Yuuri and lightly placed both of his hands over Yuuri's gently prying them away from his face. "Yuuri," he offered, and when Yuuri finally looked up to meet his eyes Victor licked his lips and moved in to press them against Yuuri. Yuuri moved quick, meeting him half way. They kept holding hands though, it was a light kiss, nothing that matched the activity that just passed.

They stayed like this as the final dismissal bell went off throughout the building, eyes closed, hands clasped, lips pressed together.


	4. Chapter 4

Victor stood outside the school building, his hair whipping into his face, sirens blared on the next street over, he took a deep sigh, _ah that’s probably Yuuri_ , the thought made him smile. With his eyes closed, he breathed until his chest hurt.

 -           -           -

The loud sirens of the ambulance made Yuuri’s heart race, the dispatcher said it was an MVA, but it was put out as an A-1 code and that meant serious business.

The bus screeched to a halt and Yuuri hopped out the back door, wrapping his stethoscope around his neck.

The wind whipped at his face, sirens blaring around him, a deep sigh, _ah,_ a frown etched onto his face.

“Who’s in charge here,” he managed in his loudest voice, talking to a fire marshal. That’s when he took a look at what ‘here’ actually was: a bus full of students coming home from school and an oil tank tipped over, oil spilled across the asphalt in a neat spider web design.

The older man in his highlighter coat turned to Yuuri and shrugged, “I have no idea,” it’s not that he was uncaring, he just couldn’t do anything himself.

“Then I’ll be in charge now,” he unclipped his radio from his belt and brought it to his lips, “Dispatcher, Katsuki 20.”

“Katsuki 20, copy,” the dispatcher responded.

Clipping it back to his belt, he spoke to the fire marshal, “I’m gonna start triaging. Please set up sections for the patients to move to. Red obviously being closest to the school bus,” he received a nod and then yelled over to Sanchez, his driver, “Sanz, work red until another bus arrives to start taking away patients!”

He grabbed the triage kit from the side door of the ambulance and sprinted over to the school bus, the kids were louder than the sirens. Crying, screaming, asking for their mothers and the like, and this is the worst part, because some weren’t saying anything.

“Everyone listen up, I’m sorry, I know you’re scared, but _please_ be quiet for me …My name is Yuuri, I’m an EMT, if you can get up and walk please stand up and exit the bus in an orderly fashion – out the back please. Yes, just like you learned during those drills a school.”

One kid in the last row stood up and pulled at the door handle until it lurched open, he pushed it and hopped down, then he stood there and helped the other kids – the ones who could walk – off. As the kids exited the bus Yuuri moved through each kid starting from the front.

“Hey, what’s your name?” He asked a girl holding her shin up to her body, tears streaked her cheeks.

“Christa,” _good, she’s okay. Good start._

“Is your… ankle?” A nod, “-the only thing that hurts?” Another nod, he pulled a green piece of paper with the number three on it from his bag and wrapped the rubber band around her wrist, he marked one for green on his notepad and moved to the next.

Another ambulance arrived as he moved through the rows, unfortunately there were a lot of yellows and even some reds, he moved quickly and more ambulances arrived, EMT’s taking turns coming in to get patients.

Yuuri came to the last few rows on the bus, this is where it was impacted and the kids were worse for wear. He stuck his head into the seat to see a kid slumped against the window, the kid wasn’t moving and Yuuri’s heart started to jump out of his chest, he moved quick reaching for the kids carotid artery to feel for a pulse, he simultaneously put his ear to the boys mouth to listen for breathing. Both were negative, and this is where in the movies everything’s supposed to slow down, because here Yuuri had to make a choice. All his training told him to stick a black piece of paper around the kids wrist and move on, but all his experience in life told him to try to bring the kid back. If he wasted too much time on this kid he could be the resulting factor for another kid’s chance, another kid who had a much better chance.

And _dammit_ Yuuri needed more time to think, but time wasn’t freezing like he needed it to, “okay, okay,” he said to no in particular, “just two more rows… just…” he looked over the seats and talked to them all at once, “are you three able to tell me your names?”

Only two could answer, one spoke perfectly and said her abdomen hurt a lot, _green._ The second one had blood gushing from her head but was talking coherently, _yellow_. The third one was unconscious, but had a consistent pulse, _red._ There were four ambulances here now, moving kids from the bus and starting to bring them to the hospital.

It was time to make a decision. Yuuri looked back to his black tagged patient and reached behind his head to hold his neck with one hand while he gently slid him into a lying position across the bench, “ _fuck,_ one, two, three,” he started compressions. He’s been on the job for years, he’s given CPR hundreds of times but while he counted to thirty, he still recited everything to keep his heart rate down, to keep his compressions in sync, “eleven, twelve,” _push hard, push fast,_ “fifteen.”

When he got to thirty he stopped for two beats and continued, “what are you doing?!” Sanchez came up behind him, he ignored him, “there are other patients that need us and your wasting time on a black tag? Yuuri… Yuuri!” He grabbed at Yuuri’s shoulder but he pulled away from his grasp, “tch, I know this is hard, but it’s not your first time Yuuri, let’s _go_!”

Yuuri’s compressions came to a halt, he checked for a pulse, nothing. His hands went to his hair, “fuck, fuck, _fuck.”_

His sinuses burned, he felt tears prickle at his caruncle, but he pushed off the bench, placed the black tag around the kid’s wrist and jumped from the back of the bus.

Sanchez continued, “Geller’s here now, he says we’re gonna transport the reds, let’s grab one and go.”

Yuuri didn’t answer, he just followed him over to another patient he had tagged where Sanchez had already brought the stretcher over, they each gripped the sheet under the girl, “on three, one, two, three,” they lifted her just slightly and moved her to the stretcher before gently putting her down, putting the rails up, and lifting the stretching to full height. Yuuri pushed it over to the ambulance and they guided her in.

When they shut the one door, Sanchez turned to Yuuri, “are you alright?”

“You said we had no time… just drive, Sanz.”

He rolled his head back, letting it loll to the side before letting his body follow, he went to the driver side door and climbed in. Yuuri climbed in and shut the other door, the ambulance vibrated to life beneath him and he put his stethoscope ear tips in his ear and took the girls blood pressure, ninety over forty, he felt for her radial pulse, he thumped faintly against his fingers, at least it was consistent. With just that, he could feel her skin was cool and clammy.

“She isn’t coming out of shock,” he yelled up to Sanchez, “is she still bleeding out somewhere?” He checked the gauze wrapped around her forearm, it was down well, he moved to do a complete check – which they should’ve done on site.

His hand was tucked under her at her left flank, when he pulled it out he had a massive amount of blood on his hand, “what the-” he ripped the blanket off her and dropped to his knees. He pulled the bottom of her shirt up to examine, but before he could even get the shirt up to where his hand was he caught on something sharp, he used his bandage scissors to cut the side of her shirt up and it revealed a piece of glass poking into the lower left quadrant of her abdomen.

“How did they miss this?!”

“Is everything okay back there?”

“She has glass in her stomach, Sanz! You were working red, how did you miss this?!”

“What?! No… I- She was in the back of the bus, when Geller got there he had me start taking patients off the bus while his guys worked red, I didn’t… Fuck I shouldn’t have listened to him.”

“N- no. It’s not your fault. Damn,” he touched his wrist to his forehead, his bloodied glove hanging limp in front of his face. “Okay.”

Yuuri pulled the glove off and put on a new one, grabbing some gauze and some tape he got to work. He wiped what blood he could away but it was still spilling out, he put the gauze around the glass and put enough pressure until it stopped bleeding profusely, then he wrapped it tight to match his own pressure and taped it securely.

He wrapped thicker bandages around it to secure the glass and moved the girl onto her side, luckily, she was small. He checked her vitals again, still low. But he didn’t lose hope, he continued to monitor her.

Five minutes out he checked her vital again, one-ten over sixty, _good, they’re going up,_ her skin was starting to turn pink again too. He radioed the hospital, “thirteen-year-old girl, puncture wound in lower left quadrant, vitals stable. Be there in two minutes.”

 

When Yuuri got back to the station his shift was over so he packed his stuff and clocked out. Jia Li and Keyan were coming on for their shift, “hey Yuuri!” Di went for a high five, but she stiffened and her hand fell slack when she got a good look at him.

“You don’t look very good,” Jia Li said gently, bending down to get a closer look at his face.

Yuuri flinched, “I’m fine… rough call.”

“Okay…” she pulled back.

He pushed between them and slid into a fast pace as he went out, “bye,” he mumbled.

He stepped out into the fresh air, it was the same winds as this just four hours ago but now it felt differently. The wind whipped his hair around his face, he tried to take a deep breath but it hurt his chest, he wanted to fold into himself. Breathing in to release a sigh was hard, his lungs sputtered on themselves and he ended up coughing, his sinuses stung, this time tears did roll down his cheeks and a sob broke loose, no one would hear him over the sound of traffic anyway.

He tugged his hood up over his face, and started walking home, _why couldn’t I stay to help that kid? Why did I have to let him die? Fuck protocol. Damn! I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I want to lay down,_ his hands were shaking as he tried to zip his jacket up. He had to stop to try and get it up, even then he couldn’t and he gave up. His eyes burned, “goddammit,” he spat out, moving into a run, he skipped around other pedestrians and jogged through the park where he used to walk Vicchan. His thoughts never evading him, _I just need to get home, I just need to lay down_.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket but he ignored it, it went off again, he ignored it.

When he got home he wanted to just fall into bed, but he had to change out of his disgusting clothes. He slowly peeled them off in the bathroom letting them fall to the floor, he didn’t bother putting anything else on though. He washed his hands and pushed them through his hair, hoping to get it out of his face, he brushed his teeth and then he crawled under the blankets of his bed and let the vibrations of his phone lull him into a sleep.

-         -         -

Victor rocked back and forth outside of Phichit’s apartment, _is it okay to do this?_ He finally decided that it may not be _okay_ to do this, but it would definitely be worth it. He rapped his knuckles on the door in a steady rhythm until Phichit swung the door open, in only a robe. Victor only spared one glance down, before meeting Phichit’s face again, “will you do me a favor?”

Phichit raised his eye brows, “hmm…” then a wicked smile grew on his face, “sure. But, you’ll owe me! What can I do for you, neighbor.”

 

 _It should be just another block_ , Victor looked at the little map Phichit had drawn for him when Victor requested Yuuri’s address (“I’m worried, he didn’t answer my calls or texts at all yesterday”).

He looked up at the dark blue and grey building, looked back down at the paper, and then again, up at the building. The grey numbers match the address, so he made his way inside.

 _What if he’s ignoring me because he doesn’t like me anymore, oh god, what if he thought I_ tasted _bad?_ Victor blushed at that thought alone, _but I’ve had many compliments from past lovers… he could possibly just not be interested._ Each thought made the hammering in his chest louder and louder.

He barely noticed that he was already standing outside of the door marked 2E, which is what Phichit marked as Yuuri’s apartment number. He flicked his nails against each other before finally knocking lightly.

There was no response so he knocked a bit louder, _oh god, I should’ve brought breakfast._ The door swung open revealing a very sleepy Yuuri, Victor took in all the skin his brain could flash memorize, the only coverage being from his boxer briefs and a thin shirt which Yuuri was selflessly pushing up to rub at his stomach.

Victor shamelessly gave Yuuri’s body a once over, twice over, thrice over, before meeting chocolate brown eyes again.

“Yuuri,” and he let out a light sigh when he was met with a small smile, _he doesn’t hate me_ , “good morning… Sorry to bother you so early in the morning,” he added, really taking in how disheveled the man looked.

Yuuri just grumbled, he turned around and walked deeper into his apartment, leaving the door open for Victor.

Victor swallowed hard and shut the door, following after Yuuri, who sat at a stool in his kitchen, “coffee, please,” he mumbled – like he was the guest – before letting his head fall to the counter.

Victor couldn’t help but chuckle, “okay, okay,” he flicked on the coffee maker on the counter and then started looking through the cabinets for mugs. When he found those, his next hunt was sugar, _oh wait,_ “Yuuri, how do you like your coffee?”

“There’s some French vanilla creamer in the fridge, that and some milk,” his cheek was smooshed to the cold counter top, “tha~nk you~”

“Not much of a morning person,” Victor asked leaning onto the counter to get at Yuuri’s eye level, Yuuri lifted his head so he leaned on his chin and eyed up Victor lazily.

“I never trusted you early bird types.”

Victor laughed, “never trusted?! I’ll have you know, us _early bird types_ are the most trust worthy because we always show up on time.”

Yuuri scoffed, “mornings don’t make you moral.”

Victor’s face scrunched into amusement and disbelief, “what! Does that even mean?” He pulled himself up and started laughing, “you’re crazy.” The coffee machine clicked off and Victor turned around to pour his creamer and milk in, he stirred it and took a small sip to taste it, _very sweet,_ “here you go, princess.”

Yuuri accepted the mug gratefully and took a sip, “perfect, thank you,” you rolled himself off the stool and slouched over to the couch, crawling onto it and pulling his legs up to his chest.

Victor followed him over, and Yuuri motioned for him to sit, so he did. Victor waited for Yuuri to ask him why he was there, but he didn’t and as time ticked on it seemed like this was completely normal for Yuuri. Person randomly comes over at the early light of morning, makes him coffee, and sits with him while he drinks it.

But, he was here for something, so he spoke, “Yuuri… I came over to make sure everything was okay. You didn’t answer me at all yesterday?”

Yuuri looked up and over his coffee mug but not at Victor, “oh… yesterday.” He seemed to get lost in a thought, “it was a long day, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine.”

It fell quiet again, but Victor felt uneasy and started to fidget, “it’s just…” he bit his lip, “you don’t sound fine.”

“You hardly know me,” Yuuri bit out.

Victor flinched at the words and moved to say sorry but Yuuri got there faster.

“No, I’m-” he put his mug down and leaned towards Victor, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay, Yuuri.”

He sighed, “a kid died on me yesterday,” he brought a knuckle up to his jaw and rubbed harshly once the words were out.

Victor gave a soft gasp, covering his mouth quickly, Yuuri looked up and met him face to face, that’s when Victor noticed how red his eyes were.

“It was a big accident… twenty-seven people. I know… I’m the one that counted. I had to assess them all. We’re trained in this, red, yellow, and green as you see it. Don’t try to do anything just label them and someone else will come and help them,” he started to chew on his lip. “But there’s one other color we use, black, and even if there’s still a chance for them, if there’s no pulse and no breathing, you have to pass them by and someone will pick them up after everyone else… in a body bag.”

Quiet tears slid down his cheeks and Victor had the urge to wipe them away, instead he sat on his hands.

“That… must’ve been awful,” Victor sympathized, “it’s- it’s all part of the job though, right.”

“What? N- no! I’m supposed to save lives!”

“Yeah, but you can’t save them all!” Victor was reaching, he just didn’t know what he was reaching for.

“Y- you just don’t get it!” The tears spilled faster, dripping from his chin, he pulled his knees in tighter, his hands coiled beneath his chin, and his face scrunching unpleasantly.

 _I don’t wanna make you look that way, Yuuri!_ “What can I do for you? I’m not good with tears,” he gave a humorless laugh, “should I kiss you?”

“No! Just…” his anger melted away just as quick as it came, “just be here for me.”

A deep frown filtered onto Victor’s features, “okay… let me try again. _Please_ … let me- I can do this. Can… can I hold you, Yuuri?”

Yuuri nodded, Victor moved against the armrest and opened up for Yuuri, who uncurled from himself and moved in between Victor’s legs, pressing his face to Victor’s chest.

“You took care of me… let me take care of you?” Victor asked. He could feel the warm tears soaking into his shirt.

 _Oh Yuuri…_ _how do I help you?_


End file.
